Monday: 6 miles – 47:25, 7:54 pace. 10 miles – 1:10:54, 7:05 pace (core/hip routine). Finally, my work calendar will allow me to hit a high number this week. I really don’t have any excuses. If I don’t, I am either a sissy or my 31 year old body can’t handle that volume. I hope neither of those is true. With that in mind, I added 2 extra miles on the second run to my tentative plan, partly because I met up with 5 other guys for the run.

Tuesday: 6 miles – 45:38, 7:36 pace (hill sprints). 12 miles – 1:11:13, 5:56 pace with Pre Workout. I learned this one from Coach Bill Leach: 1200m – 15:00 tempo – 1200m – 15:00 tempo – 1200m. It’s a son of a bitch. I felt ready for it, though, and I tailored it to 2.5 miles (instead of 15:00) to make it more treadmill compatible. The 1200 (3:45), 2.5 miles (13:48, 5:31 pace), and 1200 (3:45) went well enough, but that second tempo portion took foooorrrrrreeevvvveeer. I went as long as I could without checking the distance on the console, and when I did look down; I guessed I was 1.8 miles through the 2.5. Wrong! 1.15!!! Not even halfway! I next 1.35 miles was miserable. I gutted out the last 1200m and swore I’m never doing this workout again.

Wednesday: 6 miles – 46:13, 7:42 pace. 8 miles – 55:14, 6:54 pace.

Thursday: 6 miles – 46:09, 7:41 pace. 12 miles – 1:12:46, with 6 mile tempo – 5:26 pace. My name is Dave and I have a confession to make: At about 4.25 miles into the 6 mile tempo, I stepped off the treadmill. For about a minute. I am sorry. I was really struggling and didn’t think I could maintain the pace for another 1.75 miles, so I stepped off, drank some water, gathered myself, and finished the run. Not ideal, of course, but better than completely bailing on the run.

Friday: 4 miles – 30:40, 7:40 pace. 6 miles – 43:12, 7:12 pace. I took yesterday’s workout as I sign I needed a true recovery day. Part of the reason is because I really want to nail tomorrow’s workout, which might be the most challenging one yet…

Saturday: 16 miles – 1:37:26, 6:05 pace. 4 miles – untimed. Yup, the dreaded 4-3-2-1 cut-down run. It’s just such a long workout that gets harder and harder as time goes along. After a 3 mile warm-up (and half mile intervals between the sets):

4 miles in - 5:48, 5:43, 5:42, 5:393 miles in – 5:32, 5:30, 5:292 miles in – 5:21, 5:181 mile in – 5:05

I couldn’t help but notice that the 5:21 and 5:18 were the 12th and 13th miles of the workout. If only the same can be true in 5 more weeks.

Sunday: 6 miles – 46:31, 7:45 pace. 16 miles – 1:48:55, 6:48 pace. I expected to be wrecked today. Sure, I had some heavy leg syndrome and it took a few miles to get going, but all things considered, I was pleased with the second 16 miler in as many days. As I tweeted on Sunday night, this week’s 118 miles included 24 miles at faster than marathon pace. That’s a really solid mix of quality and quantity. Also, through 6 weeks, I’m at 660 miles. Two weeks to go before taper!

Monday: 8 miles – 1:00:24, 7:33 pace. 42 miles last weekend must have gotten to me, because I was beat this morning. So much so that I skipped my lunchtime run in lieu of additional recovery. While I still want 100 this week, I’m at the point in training (i.e. less than 4 weeks to race day) where nailing the workouts is more important than piling on the mileage.

Tuesday: 6 miles – 45:31, 7:35 pace. 14 miles – 1:22:43, with 8 x 1 mile. Speaking of piling on the mileage, today’s workout was designed to log as many miles near goal pace as possible. I wanted 8 repeats at just under 5:20 pace. It’s a long workout, but a great one for half-marathon prep: 5:21, 5:18, 5:15, 5:12, 5:10, 5:21, 5:17, and 5:15.

Wednesday: 4 miles – 30:26, 7:36 pace. 8 miles – 58:39, 7:20 pace. I’ve noticed that as this 8-week training block has progressed, it has taken on a true hard-easy structure. The workouts are getting harder, while easy days have become really easy. That’s fine, I think.

Thursday: 6 miles – 45:18, 7:33 pace. 12 miles – 1:12:12, with 2 x 3 miles. I’ve been saving this one, as in the past I’ve had some great 2 x 3 mile workouts that were real confidence boosters. I definitely wanted both sets to be under 16:00 today, and thought I had a chance at 15:30 on the second set. The first went as expected, coming in at 15:54. I felt pretty smooth the whole way. I pushed on the second set and finished in 15:39, not quite the 15:30 I hoped for but still fast enough to leave me pleased with the workout.

Friday: 6 miles – 45:35, 7:36 pace. 6 miles – 42:08, 7:01 pace. Last night we had a going away dinner party for one of my good friends, who has taken a year-long job assignment in Amsterdam. The wine and beer, it was a flowing. I mention this only to let you know that I didn’t particularly enjoy either of these runs.

Saturday: 12 miles – 1:13:42, 6:08 pace. 4 miles – untimed. The 12 miler was kinda a workout. I didn’t want to hammer a tempo, but I also wanted to put in some quicker miles. So after a 2 mile warm-up, I increased the treadmill pace to 10.1 mph, and thereafter increased it by .1 for each of the next 8 miles. The result was 8 miles in about a 5:45 average pace (and then two more easy miles); not quite a tempo run but also not easy.

Sunday: 18 miles – 2:02:40, 6:49 pace. Grind. That’s what this run was. I’ve been logging most of my long runs after a workout of some sort, which means I’m always partially fatigue before even starting it. Even with the NFL on to distract me, this felt more like 4 hours than 2. The good thing about half-marathon training, though, is that long runs are for endurance only, which means I really don’t care about the pace. I figure anything over 2 hours is proving the endurance I need to race for 70 minutes.

Monday: 6 miles – 44:42, 7:27 pace. For the second week in a row, I kicked off the week feeling exhausted and beat from training. I had a decision to make: Fight through it for another 100-110 mile week; or drop some of the easy mileage and start getting race-ready. I opted for the later. At this point, I stand to lose much more by going over the edge than I can gain with an extra 15 easy miles. (With partial credit to Jim for convincing me this is the right call).

Tuesday: 12 miles – 1:11:17, with 4 mile tempo + 2 x 1 mile. My gift this morning was instant affirmation that backing off slightly was the right decision. I absolutely crushed this workout. The 4 mile tempo, with splits of 5:23, 5:18, 5:16 and 5:11, was perhaps the smoothest of the last two months. Then after a change into non-sweat soaked clothes, I did 2 x1 mile – to get some 5k paced stuff on fatigued legs – in 5:00. And it would have been faster if the treadmill wasn’t already maxed out. Merry Christmas indeed!

Thursday: 6 miles – 45:43, 7:37 pace. 10 miles – 1:00:16 with 8 x 800. With the race less than 20 days away, now’s the time to log a few V02Max workouts as final race prep. The roads just aren’t clear (or safe) enough for 800’s outside, so I was stuck on the treadmill. That means each repeat was done in exactly 2:30. I had more in me but the workout served its purpose.

Friday: 4 miles – 31:19, 7:50 pace. 6 miles – 44:17, 7:23 pace. I was taken aback by how sore my hamstrings were today. The 800’s didn’t feel hard, but I guess the 4 total miles at 5:00 pace did some damage.

Saturday: 10 miles – 59:45, with 6 mile tempo – 32:05, 5:21 pace. 4 miles – untimed. And that damage lingered to today. I had been looking forward to hammering a 6 mile tempo/pace run this morning, but I knew during my warm-up miles that my legs were sluggish. The good news, though, is that despite feeling less-than-my-best, I was able to grind out 6 miles right on target: 5:21, 5:20, 5:19, 5:23, and 5:20. Now, if this is how the first 6 miles of Houston feel, we’re looking at blow-up city. If this is how the last 6 miles feel, then I know I can hang in there.

Sunday: 16 miles – 1:46:15, 6:38 pace. 4 miles – 30:06, 7:31 pace. I’ve stuck true to the workout/long run combo throughout this training cycle. It’s made the long runs less enjoyable, but I know it’s good for fitness. Completion of this long run marks the true beginning to taper. In the 8 week cycle I logged 851 miles (105, 110, 115, 106, 106, 118, 104, and 90) with 3 workouts each week. If 106 miles per week with typically 20% of them being faster than marathon pace doesn't put me in PR shape, I don’t know what will.

Monday: 6 miles – 43:41, 7:17. Now we’re really into taper. The target for the week is 60 miles with just 2 workouts and a 14 miler. Let’s see if I can avoid getting sick, which somehow always seems to happen.

Tuesday: Off – You have no idea how hard it was for me to take a big fat ZERO on the first day of 2013. But, I had planned all along that I would take two days prior to my 5k time trial off. The problem is that I didn’t realize when I scheduled it that way it would be the first day of the year. Looks like I only have 364 days to log 4,000 in 2013.

Wednesday: 6 miles – 44:41, 7:27. 6 miles – 41:05, 6:51 pace. It was the right call, though. My legs definitely felt refreshed, especially on the second run of the day, where I had to keep dialing back to stay over a 6:45 pace.

Thursday: 5k time trial at University of Chicago – 15:53. 8 miles total. If have any worry about this training cycle, it’s that every workout was done on a treadmill. I’ve done that before throughout the winters, and for the most part, I never have an issue with the pace translating to the road. But there’s always a small voice inside your head that says “you haven’t done it outside.” To quiet that voice, I was lucky enough to get a guest pass to the University of Chicago’s indoor track for a 5k time trial.

Seven days before my 1:11 in 2010, I ran 15:48 at the Ravenswood 5k. My goal today was to beat not only that time, but my 15:41 PR from 2008 (!!!). Warm-up went well, I had the track to myself, and after a quarter mile at 5:00 pace to help gauge things, I set off.

The first 8 laps, 1600 meters, passed in 5:02. I felt smooth, but I also learned quickly that a 200m track is not the easiest thing to run on. The turns required concentration and just a tad extra effort. By lap 12 – so about 1.5 miles – my hips and ankles were feeling the burn. It was definitely different than either a treadmill or the roads. I went through 3200m in 10:09 (5:07 split). I was able to rally a little on the last mile and hit it in 5:05. However, the entire time I felt like I was giving away time on the bends and having to surge on the straightaways to “catch up.” One more lap in 37 (the last as the first) put me at 15:53.

It’s my 3rd fastest 5k ever and fastest in 2 years; so in all, a very good start to 2013. Also, my internal speedometer felt right on. In other words, though I hoped for faster, it felt like I was running about 5:05 pace – which eases my concern about the treadmill mileage. Finally, it lines up almost identically to my 2010 5k, which means I’m right on the cusp of a PR. Two more moderate tempo/pace workouts and I’ll be ready to go.

Friday: 6 miles – 45:28, 7:35 pace. 4 miles – 30:12, 7:33 pace. No inordinate soreness from the 5k. Which is nice.

Saturday: 10 miles – 1:01:03, with 6 mile tempo – 32:25, 5:24 pace. Last week I ran 6 miles in 32:05, and it was a grind. This week, I ran it just 19 seconds slower, and it was smooth as can be. I felt like I could have held the pace for 4 more miles if I had to. That puts me at 10. The last 5k is going to come down to fresh legs, competition, and embracing the pain.

Sunday: 14 miles – 1:29:52, 6:25 pace. And that pretty much wraps things up, folks. I will put in a few half marathon paced miles, and hill sprints/strides, next, but as my football coach used to say, “Hay’s in the barn.” Did I do enough to PR next week? There’s no way to know for sure, but I can at least say this: In the last two months I trained with more intensity and discipline than I have in some time.

I know Dave won't be pleased with his time, but I think the conditions were pretty brutal and when you finish 31st overall and 4th in your AG, you don't have anything to be displeased with at all. Nice work, Dave-O!

(And all those bodies up there are pretty skinny, so no where to hide like I would get. )

I've run little, with weeks of 12, 40, 46, and 24 miles. My longest run was 10. I've had a lot of fun, including skiing in Wisconsin and Vail last weekend. I've drank and eaten to my heart's desire, which had resulted in an 8 pound weight gain.

That being said, I haven't lost much, if any, fitness. The little mileage I have run has been pretty quick, including a few short tempos in the 5:25 range.

As for the future, training for the Shamrock Shuffle kicks off today with an 8 week cycle. I'm in the works of hiring a new coach, and we're working on the Macro-structure for the whole year now. His mission is simple for 2013 - get me under 1:10 in the half. That starts with an 8-week, speed oriented cycle for the 8k.

I was going to let this blog die - ya know, because "too much talk, not enough results." I am signed on with a new coach, Matt Flaherty, the former lawyer turned professional runner for Salomon. He's sent me the training for the first 8 weeks culminating with the Shamrock Shuffle. Instead of my usual lengthy weekly summaries, I'll just repost what I email him on Sunday nights.

Week 1 of Shamrock Shuffle training: February 11 – 17

Monday: 8 miles – 57:05. Easy effort. Legs felt like they haven’t run in a few days, which was true. 8 strides after the run.

Tuesday: 10 miles – 1:02:12, with 8 mile progression (6:40, 6:15, 6:10, 6:02, 5:51, 5:41, 5:30, 5:20) + 2 mile cool down (7:30, 7:08). Mostly smooth, moderate effort for the first 5 miles; started working a good bit for the last 1.5. Felt good afterwards, like I knocked some rust off.

Wednesday: 4 miles – 31:05 + 30 mins of core and hip exercises + 8 miles – 57:34. Same as Monday, mostly easy but still getting my legs back under me.

Thursday: 8 miles – 48:36 with 4 x [3 min hard, 3 min moderate]. I did this one on the treadmill. Probably not ideal, I know, but I was in a time crunch having to do it over lunch and I wanted to make sure to hit the right paces anyway. For the moderate portions I ran 5:56 pace. For the hard portions, I increased by .1 mph each time, so 5:15, 5:12, 5:10, and 5:07 pace. I actually handled the fast sessions okay, but as tends to be the case with these workouts, had to really focus to keep pace on the moderate portions. I guess that’s where the treadmill is a good thing.

Friday: 8 miles – 1:00:57.

Saturday: 10 miles – 1:08:04 (6:48) at Waterfall Glen. This is the first time I’ve run anything resembling hills for a while, and I felt it. So the 6:48 pace was more on the moderate end than the easy end of the spectrum. I would love to get out here once per week for a moderate 10 mile loop. We’ll see if my schedule allows it.

Then I jogged another 4 in about 30 minutes at night just to shake out the soreness.

Sunday: 14 miles – 1:34:50 (6:46). Harder than I expected. I was sore from the Waterfall Glen loop, more so than expected, so my legs felt heavy. Aerobically the pace was very easy but my legs just weren’t there today. Part of getting back in shape, I guess.

Total: 82I think both workouts went well. On Wednesday, the mile tempo part was really smooth. On the 2 miles of 30 seconds hard/30 seconds moderate I was working pretty hard, but I think that was the intention. Saturday’s long run – as I mentioned, my first in about 6 weeks – went better than expected. The moderate progression from miles 10 through 17 ended up being pretty fast; let me know if you think it was too fast. I was a little stiff to start Sunday’s run but loosened up nicely after about 2 miles.

Monday: 10 miles – 1:10:01 (7:00). This was listed as AYF (as you feel), but I kept it pretty easy to make sure I’m fresh for tomorrow’s workout.

Tuesday: 10 miles – 1:03:45 (6:22) with 4 x 1 mile in 5:20, 5:20, 5:18, 5:18. As you predicted, the pace on these was smooth. I was on the treadmill so jogged at 8:00 pace for the 3:00 intervals. Good first building block as the number of repeats will increase.

Wednesday: 8 miles – 1:01:38 (7:42) and 4 miles – untimed. I made sure to keep the effort very easy today since it’s sandwiched between 2 workouts. All 12 miles were slower than 7:30 pace.

Thursday: 10 miles – 59:56 (6:00) with 5 x [3:00 hard, 3:00 moderate]. On paper this seems like a simple workout, but it’s a tough one. Maybe that’s just because I’m not as used to the varying paces on tempos. For the hard portions, I followed the same pattern as last time by increasing the speed .1 each time: 5:21, 5:18, 5:15, 5:12, and 5:10. For the moderate portions, I ran 5:49 pace. In total, I covered 5.45 miles over the 30:00. I would say the first 3 reps were solid; I was hanging on for the last 12:00 minutes.

Saturday: 10 miles – 1:05:41 (6:34) and 4 miles – untimed. Another AYF, but faster than Monday. I definitely recovered from Thursday’s effort better than I expected. The second 4 miler was just an easy shake out, probably 8:00 pace.

Sunday: 16 miles – 1:42:23 (6:24), with 3 mile warm-up, 10 mile tempo in 59:24 (6:10, 6:05, 6:01, 6:00, 5:56, 5:55, 5:52, 5:50, 5:49, 5:43) , 3 mile cool-down. I was reminded today to never pre-judge a workout by the warm-up. My legs were dead and I thought the 10 mile tempo was going to be a death march. But within 2 miles, something clicked and I fell into a really strong rhythm. Knocked out the 10 without much difficulty.

Nice work, Dave-O. What is your goal for the shuffle? I assume since you are up front it isn't very crowded, and that being the case, it should be quick. I actually ran it in 2005 and ran a Masters PR for 8K.

Hope you liked Vail - I was at Beaver Creek and Vail the very same weekend.

Dave, I can't tell, are you still doing as much work on the glutes, hips and hamstrings that you planned? I've been doing a lot of work in this area, plus general squats and leg presses, for 2-3 months and feel it has made a big difference for me. The PT said in a marathon, as these muscles tired out and gave up, other muscles took over for them, but they were tired too, which helped make the general fatigue of a marathon that much worse.

@Michele "1L" Keane wrote:Nice work, Dave-O. What is your goal for the shuffle? I assume since you are up front it isn't very crowded, and that being the case, it should be quick. I actually ran it in 2005 and ran a Masters PR for 8K.

Hope you liked Vail - I was at Beaver Creek and Vail the very same weekend.

My PR for 8k, and for the Shuffle, is 25:49. I would be thrilled to come close to that, as it was set in the spring of 2010, when I PR'd in everything from the 5k through the Half. I've been trying to get back to that fitness level ever since.